by Martin Haschka

Created on: August 09, 2009   Last Updated: August 12, 2009

You didn't know tea grows in Africa? Well, it didn't until 1877 when seeds of tea plants were brought to South Africa for the first time. Later, in 1903 the Englishman G. W. L. Caine bought a two acre lot in Limuru, close to Kenya's Capital of Nairobi where he nurtured the precious seeds of Indian tea plants into rich growing bushes. They can still be admired on the plantation "Mabroukie", although the original bushes have grown into impressive trees by now.

Commercial tea production didn't really catch on in Africa until the 1950's. The first ever tea-auction was held in Nairobi as late as 1957. Amazingly enough, as of today Kenya is Africa's most successful producer of tea. About 400,000 tons of tea were picked in 2007, amounting to about 10 percent of the world's annual production, topped only by India and China with about 1,000,000 tons per year each. Tea also is produced in other countries across the east and southern parts of Africa, like Malawi, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Burundi and Mauritius.

While China, India and other Asian countries have a tendency to consume most of the tea they produce themselves, the Kenyans do not seem to be as fond of their own tea. As a result, 20 percent of all tea traded on the international markets originate from Kenya. Therefore it's very likely that if you do drink tea regularly, you've already encountered tea from the Africa, even though perhaps not knowingly.

The odds are even higher if you are a devoted fan to the convenience and luxury of tea bags. Most African plantations produce black tea of medium quality in the lower price range. Their teas are characterized by a rather strong taste, and many people prefer to drink it with milk. A majority of teas are post processed after picking using the Crushing-Tearing-Curling-Method (CTC) which produces particle teas like Broken, Fanning or even Dust enhancing the strength of the tea even more. These tea particles, sometimes as small as 1 mm (Fanning) or even less (Dust) are typically used for teabags and blending.

Only very few plantations produce teas of higher quality and grading, like the "Marinyin" in Kenya. Their tea is praised for their full bodied flavor with a hint of citrus. These teas are rare and significantly more expensive than the African mainstream tea.

Until today South Africa keeps producing black teas, but during the past two decades it has become world famous for its Rooibos ("Red Bush") and Honeybush teas. Rooibos is primarily

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